The Younger Miss Summers
by Gojirob
Summary: A series of short and mid-range subjects centered around Dawn, her life and the implications of her existence.
1. Dawning : Bad Eggs

**Dawn-ing: Bad Eggs**  
by Rob Morris

1998

ENTRY 1

That my sister is stuck-up is sooo way well established. But maybe she does that in response to Mom. Mom keeps on thinking Buffy's doing some drugs or something. Like with the amount of times I've searched her room, I wouldn't know if she were. Mothers.

Things here are even more tense than Daddy said. I wish I could have kept staying with him. Buffy never smells of alcohol, despite coming in late, but Mom always asks that. And what is up with Mom always taking the school's side when they call up? Me, she asks what happened. But never Buffy. That should make me happy, but it weirds me out. I think it has something to do with that weird summer camp she went to three years ago. I mean, nobody ever told me she was going. They took her for a doctor's appointment, and then no word for six weeks. Couldn't have been too deluxe, in that place. When Buffy got back, she hugged me and cried. Mom and Dad she wouldn't speak to.

Like I say, Buffy's stuck-up and perfect, but maybe its a defense. Mom is always waiting and watching for something.

Now, this is rich. Buffy just warned me against touching some dumb egg she got as a school project. How 80's. Are Zack and Screech coming over, too?

ENTRY 2

Hurry Up And Wait. That's the first rule of army life, Hollywood, and being Dawn Summers. Only I don't get paid big, and I don't get to shoot anybody. I CAN'T be-lieve she's making me wait out in the car, all so she can come back while arguing with Buffy--again. Not that Buffy argues as much, lately. She almost seems to wait it out.

Once again, my big sister's crime doesn't seem to match what Mom's yelling about. So she wasn't here waiting, like Mom barked? Wow, what if I get those orders, and stop at Quick-Grab for a chocolate lowfat milk? Will she call out the Marines? I used to think Buffy got away with everything, but this isn't how I wanted to see justice done. Its like Mom knows something she doesn't want me to know. Its like Mom knows something she doesn't want Mom to know. That's not good. The last time that happened, I think Mom and Dad were arguing about that six-week summer camp again. Dad wanted to bring her home after three, but Mom signed her up for three more without telling him. Dad got pissed. He went to have a long lunch with his lawyer friend. I think it was the same guy who handled the divorce, now that I think about it.

I hate sympathizing with Buffy. She strolls around like she's Harriet Potter or something, with some secret burden. Yah. She's just moanie because Cordelia Chase is rich and has better taste in clothes. Cordie should watch out for that blonde, though--Melody? Whatever. She reminds me of StarScream from the old Transformers reruns on Xander's tapes. But back to Sis. She deserves to get pulled down from the high-and-mighty pedestal. Mom wants her in the dungeon, though. Not in a bad way, but that's where she wants her. Not like a prisoner, but like a rare painting or one of those cars old guys keep on blocks and never drive. Then again, maybe that is prison. Mom always starts out saying how much she loves Buffy, and she does. But I've got a sick feeling that one day, she's gonna or-else Buffy right out the door, and how will that make me look in school? God, do either of them even think about me when they pull this cra--garbage. Mom, I wrote garbage, in case you decide to totally shred my privacy and read this.

That's really it, isn't it? Mom's all over Buffy for stuff I can't figure. So where does that leave me, when I'm her age? Buffy gets into fights. Big whoop. Mom doesn't know school rules. Buffy hangs out late. I know you had her narc-tested, Mom. Nothing found. The only liquor is yours. She hangs out with an egghead, a nice but nerdy guy, and hel-lo? THE LIBRARIAN? Better call the ATF, Mother. It sounds like another Dungeons And Dragons cult. Better confiscate her twelve-sided dice. Mom won't nail her on anything to do with anything, like always telling me to go away. But she goes ballistic on stuff that just doesn't matter. Good thing she doesn't know Buffy broke her stupid school egg. She tried to hide the shell fragment, but nothing gets past me. Like that locked trunk? Duh? Its prolly overflowing with Playgirls. I should get a skeleton key made for that.

OKay. I'm going in. What the hel-heck could she and Mister Giles be talking about for so long, anyway? And why is the school deserted at this hour? I just hope that I do not run across that troll of a principal, the one Mom calls for info when he isn't calling her. (Yeah, I saw you, Mom. No one else did. But I saw.) I hope someone eats him like they did the other guy before I get here.

What, is she hatching a new School Egg?

ENTRY 3

There's someone at Buffy's window, standing on a ladder. But I'm not going to report it to Mom. Maybe some things are just meant to be between sisters.

Mom is here. Daddy isn't. Mom works hard for us, and takes care of us. But she's forever peeking around the corners to find out the answers about us, especially where Buffy is concerned. That's really kind of funny, because the truth is right in front of her. I still can't get a handle on it all. Maybe this is why Buffy's clammed up. If she has trouble with it, and I really have trouble with it...well, ya know, Mom.

The details are all a big jumble. Mom and Mister Giles tried to hold me down, when I got inside. I think I would have done as they said and stayed still, but then Mom said she didn't need any more rebellion from me. That's her thing with Buffy, not me. So I knew something was off, and I ran like a scared---okay, I was a scared jackrabbit. I ran blind, straight into someone. Someone who grabbed me, and held me until I stopped crying and shaking. I was ashamed, for being so weak. Then I looked into their eyes. I never realized before, but Xander Harris is freaking beautiful. How can Buffy not be, well, ya know, with him?

I heard my sister then, and she told him to keep me safe, no matter what. Where did she think she was going? Wherever it was, we were going there too, after about two minutes of non-waiting. I asked Xander about what Buffy said. But he said that working with my sister meant assuming that things wouldn't go according to plan. I had no idea what he meant. I almost wish I still didn't.

Xander must have some feelings for me, too. He totally knocked Willow and Cordelia on their butts to stop them from going at me. Everybody was in the basement. Everyone had low-rent lobsters on them. There was something in the middle of the place. Something that wanted out. The only two people not digging were these sub-urban cowboys, one of which grabbed me and asked his brother whether I was *marryin' age*. Gr-oo--ss! Even grosser? As Buffy punched the brother out, my no-way intended got dragged in to the hole, screamed--and then stopped screaming. But what really impresses me is Xander. I mean, he can reallllly take a punch. And how does he get thrown around like that so much, and keep going? I stopped looking at him, long enough to notice Buffy and the other cowboy are gone. That jerk emerges from the pit, yelps, and moseys on out. Pick-axe in hand, someone else emerges from the pit. That octo-thing is octo-gone. Deader. Its Buffy. My big sister just killed a monster. I saw her. Well not saw saw, more like heard saw, instead of see saw---stop. I'm writing like Willow talks.

Covered in really icky black stuff, she makes for the showers, but not before telling Xander to *tell her.* Getting out of my Mom's awakening line of sight, he leads me off. I'm almost wondering if he wasn't going to kiss me. I mean, I know. But unless you saw him fight, you just wouldn't get it. But I'm still a kid, so he just sits me down and tells me a story. The bottom line : My sister isn't just stuck up. She's a superhero. She kills demons, and vampires. She saves people. All the time. My sister Buffy is The Slayer. I wish I knew what that really meant, because it sounds so way cool.

Mom would go ballistic if she knew. If--she admitted she knew. I'm tracing a line, here. Right back from the most current grounding, which if a gas leak is the story, and if she thinks it's true, then why more punishment? Because she doesn't really think its true. It's the same thing as when the divorce hit. Daddy decided to let Mom decide when they would tell us. Mistake. He was almost packing when she finally did. Mom knew then. She knows now. But Buffy isn't going anywhere. I won't let her. I mean, I just found out my big dumb sister is really great. I can't let her run off, after that.

Boy, that was a weird train of thought. Guess I can expect a lot of that, now that I'm in the know. I'm not upset she didn't tell me. Why would this be any different from anything else she doesn't talk to me about? I even helped her out. Mom was headed for Buffy's room. I stopped her by complaining that my hand was sore again. It was the one Ted grabbed, so a teensy guilting was involved. But Mom only goes into Buffy's room to get herself angrier, lately, so I'm doing them both a favor. I wonder how Mom will react when she admits what she knows to herself? Will she be upset with me for keeping quiet? Well, sorry. I love you, Mom. But I have to keep this secret. It's like Xander said. I'm one of the Scoobies, now.

I wonder what HE thinks *marryin' age* is. I can't kid myself, though. Until I'm at least thirteen, there's just no way he'll take me seriously.


	2. Dawn Returns The Gift

**Dawn Returns The Gift**  
by Rob Morris

Summary: Dawn channels a little bit of Bugs Bunny and Jerry Mouse to change the outcome of the final battle with Glory. 

* * *

The cold gaunt monster sliced at Dawn, looking neither truly happy nor truly anything else.

"Small cuts....small cuts."

More than Ben or even Glory, Dawn now wanted vengeance on this total opportunist. When, despite his small cuts, she saw some of her blood on him, she also saw her opportunity.

"Buffy?"

The slime never turned around.

"Try much harder, my dear."

So she did.

"Don't even say it, Ben. I don't want to hear your lame apologies."

A half-smile formed.

"Oh, my. Are you saying that this Ben is somehow connected with Glorificus?"

Yet Dawn had known he would not turn around either time. With one leg free of constraints, she made her last bit of trickery count. Her eyes went completely wide with feigned surprise.

"Malcolm McDowell, Anthony Hopkins, AND Jonathan Harris---in Sunnydale? Here?"

Like Andrew, who they had yet to meet, for Shatner, Nimoy and De Kelley, the delighted monster turned around on fanboy-driven reflex.

"Oh, SIRS! I've admired your work for as many decades as you've all been alive!"

With her free leg, Dawn swept him down, then nudged him toward the portal as he tried to regain his footing. Her blood and his lifeforce was just enough to fool the whatevers that ran such things, and it began to close. On the ground, a staggered Glory screamed and made a leap for life.

"I can still get home!"

She jumped in and vanished forever. Seconds later, the quick-witted heroine who had averted more than she could ever know was being bear-hugged by her sister and their friends. But the day was not yet over. Xander and Dawn watched Cartoon Network. The green-suited little girl on screen slammed a familiar-looking foe.

*Well, if you mess with the Powerpuff Girls, your names gonna be Gory!*

From beneath a pile of rubble, the banished goddess whined a blue-streak.

"Whaaaat do I hafta do to get hoooome?"


	3. Dawn Unknown

**Dawn Unknown**

by Rob Morris

I never told Buffy that I found this fragment of one of Mom's diaries. Because this one is uniquely mine, part of a message my mother didn't intend to send me. But I love her for it, now more than ever.

It previously described an event I know for a fact never occurred. Perhaps one of the most telling pieces of altered timeline in the entire history of me. I begged Willow to let me see the entry as it was before the monks' spell hit it. At first, she was hesitant, afraid that she might erase me, or memories of me. But Kennedy, who actually knows how to do something other than play Faith Lite, encouraged her to try. The short of it is, the spell worked, and the diary went back to its original form, at least for a day or two. It now told a very different story about the lives of the Summers' family.

**Hank's insensitivity over the miscarriage is going to have us in couples' counseling. All my fault, he says, for not stopping work sooner. Buffy seems to have forgotten I was pregnant again, but she can tell something is wrong. She would have been a good big sister.**

Once, I think, something like this would have me crying, running off, or punching something. Instead, though, my grin is from ear to ear. Why does something so grim make me smile?

Because this diary is dated in 1986, about the time of my birthday. My body may be some weird mix of Buffy's blood, solid memories and crazy DNA glue, but my soul is there, with no doubts, because I just can't believe they could make one. That's way high up on the PTB food chain. I would have been that baby, I'm certain of it. It just feels right, like I didn't intrude on their lives so much as find my way back. I am now one step realer than I have ever been, and it feels great.

I am Buffy the Vampire Slayer's little sister--and I always have been. So there.


	4. Super Mario Sisters

**Super Mario Sisters**  
by Rob Morris

JUNE 1ST, 2002

Buffy stared at the machine Dawn was using.

"Super Nintendo? Isn't that awfully old school?"

Dawn continued to play, her cartridge of choice being the compilation Super Mario All Stars.

"It was ten bucks at a garage sale. I asked Xander. Said he felt bad about blurting out about Spike, and his moping, so he sprung."

Buffy sighed.

"Just not too often, okay? He's finally evening out from seeing himself as the fiend of the wedding and then the hero of the day. Still for the price, couldn't you have rented a newer system?"

Dawn pointed at her completed summer school work for that day.

"I need something wayyy uncomplicated. No people 500 miles away I forgot to rescue. Just run and jump and throw."

Through the levels of Super Mario 2 (Aka Super Mario USA) she went, til just before the end, as Buffy watched.

"So now you go through the eagle's mouth to get to the last level?"

But to Buffy's surprise, the eagle's head came alive and began to attack the character til it went down. Dawn then proceeded to fight the evil Wart. When she had won, she shut it off and went upstairs. Buffy stayed, and occasionally repeated a phrase.

"The mouth just comes alive and attacks you?"


	5. The Slayer And The Snatchers

**The Slayer and the Snatchers**  
by Rob Morris

NOVEMBER 1ST, 2001, 1:30 AM

The Diaries Of Dawn Summers

So Halloween was over, but we didn't head straight home. Word was, an old infestation had cropped up in a town near Sunnydale. Non-mystic, but still nasty.

"You will join us."

The dead-eyed things came at us, but stakes through the hearts of plant-thingies stop water flowing, same as blood. Worse, they got Buffy to talking. Geez. I'd rather be back with my dusted boyfriend than endure this.

"Join you? You guys are no better than vamps. You don't even use the original bodies. Just dupes. So you might kill us, but we won't join you."

When one of them saw us, they would scream like crazy. That always earned them a crossbow bolt from Xander, at Buffy's nod. He really hates loud screaming, courtesy of his dys-func folks. But they got her talking again, and I know I'd rather deal with the screaming.

"Ummm...you're supposed to be pointing us out? H-llo? Note to snatch-a-byes : Screaming out makes a Slayer's job reallllly easy."

"Eventually, you need to sleep. Then we will have you."

Buffy looked at Willow, who has been throwing around magic like a Beverly Hills teen with Daddy's Platinum plastic.

"No. Way. My friend here can cast a spell that lets us get by on a second of sleep per year, if need be. And she made us proof against your tender little tendrils, anyhow."

Well, Tara actually did that last part, but she never gets enough credit. Finally, an army of them surrounded us, never having a freaking clue in their collective so-called mind.

Snatchers.

"Face it, Slayer. Your emotions leave you vulnerable. We have none."

Buffy.

"Which you regularly boast about, with evident pride."

Snatchers.

"You do have to sleep, even with sorcery. We never do."

Buffy.

"As if. My old biology instructor said that plant life has some of the most significant down time of any living thing. Like--winter? Even in a warm climate, there are variations that induce hibernation periods. We'll be waiting for those. With strong emotion."

Snatchers.

"You are a disunified species. But we are not mammals. Among plant species, there is peace."

Buffy.

"The cable went out. Xander and Spike fiddled with the old antenna. All we got was PBS. And I quote : 'Every Blade Of Grass Fights And Kills Every Other Blade, Just To Become A Seed.' You people fight each other before you're born and long after you're dead. Now--go home."

And go home they did, looking angry and ashamed as they reverted and found their ships. I don't think they'll ever be coming back. To those invaders seeking to take this plane of existence or just this planet, heed the following warning, as I have learned to :

My sister Buffy is The Slayer. She has a mouth, and she is very willing to lecture you with it. So don't mess.


	6. That Boy Is Mine

**That Boy Is Mine**

by Rob Morris

**1998, Sunnydale High School**

Xander's jaw dropped. One minute, Buffy had been ready to straddle him, her decidedly bare underside atop his chest, coat aside--and it almost went aside.

"Hey, Buff? Squeak---squeak?"

Now she was a mouse, and mousifier Amy was after him.

"Now, my love, we explore the mysteries..."

A small dart struck Amy's neck, rendering her speechless. An impact batted her back, protection spells aside. Xander looked at the karate-ghi'd wonder that moved to take what she saw as hers.

"Oh, God. The spell is all-ages."

Dawn pointed her rifle straight at Amy.

"Get away from him...YOU WITCH!!!"


	7. Who's That Girl?

**Who's That Girl?**  
by Rob Morris

Patty Lane returned home, her triumph complete. Count Orlock had been one of the nastiest ones, to be certain, but she had prevailed, in that way she had. So before her Dad could find some other prophecy on the endless cosmic calendar, she was determined to get out, and grab a burger at the Silver Dollar.

But then, she felt a strange twinge. She saw a greenish-tinted light. Patty looked around, and saw things as though the mirror had come to life. Given her profession, this was not an impossibility. Nor was it what had happened, though. She heard her father's voice.

"Patty? Take your cousin with you, when you go out."

Patty and Cathy Lane, identical twin cousin Slayers, responded almost as one.

"Dad!"

"Uncle!"


	8. The Christmas That Almost Was

**The Christmas That Almost Was**  
by Rob Morris

It was December 24th, 1997. I remember it mainly as the time before the really bad stuff started. After we got rid of that creep Ted, Mom and Buffy finally entered peace-ville. Had to happen eventually, right?

I can taste these rolled almond cookies. Xander complained that he burnt the edges. He told us that the recipe had been taught to him by one of his few aunts living in this reality. It took me a month to find out what he meant. The cookies were great, though. He's way too hard on himself.

I can hear Cordelia complimenting Buffy's wardrobe. Maybe if she spoke in a level voice with no chuckling, her sarcasm wouldn't burn a hole in the floor.

I can feel Mom straightening my clothes for like the jillionth squared time. I can feel her just hugging me for no reason I can figure.

I see someone outside, out of the corner of my eye, dart by the windows, never there when I look, but there nonetheless. I didn't know who Angel was then, but I knew there really was someone.

I smell Willow, which is ridiculous. She doesn't use perfume. But it turns out her Mom sent her a bottle of strawberry shampoo, and it just smells fabulous. I ask her about Chanukah, and she says her family sometimes seems more interested in keeping to symbols than beliefs. But she still wishes people would think and stop wishing her a Merry holiday-she-doesn't-celebrate.

Finally, I can sense my big sister. Yeah, she treats me like a bug that crawled in the window sometimes. But when Ted grabbed my hand and twisted it, she went wild on him. She loves me. It was only after the eggs' thing I found who she really was. She's like this rock, this lighthouse in our lives.

It was our first Christmas in Sunnydale, and I clearly and totally remember that it was everything its supposed to be. Everything they always tell you about, on TV and in the stories.

Makes me wish I'd really been there.


	9. Just Sit Right Back

**Just Sit Right Back**

by Rob Morris

BURBANK, CALIFORNIA

JANUARY, 1964

Bob Denver couldn't believe his ears.

"Another pilot? Sherwood, they're killing us!"

Sherwood Schwarz shrugged.

"Network loved you, Jimmy, Alan, and Natalie. Professor and Ginger we'll recast. Rod Serling mentioned this one guy. But Bunny the Secretary is now Mary-Ann - Farm Girl."

"So what happened to Bunny? She drown or get rescued?"

"Never was a Bunny, Bob. Always was a Mary Ann. My Three Sons is doing the same thing with Bill Frawley's Bub. Its TV. As to pilot problems? My pal, Gene, you know the ex-flyer? NBC is giving him such crap on some Wagon Train In Space he's pitching."

Denver left, shaking his head at having to shoot yet another pilot for what had seemed a done deal. As he neared the office suite's exit, he saw a nervous young actress.

"What are you doing here?"

Schwarz's voice rang out from nearby.

"Hey, Bob? That's the new kid. Could you take her out on the town with you and your wife?"

Both Denver and Dawn Wells reacted sharply to this sudden change of plans.

"Sherwood!"


	10. Another Unknown Sister

Another Unknown Sister  
by Rob Morris

October 26, 2000

"Cordelia recommended this place, before she left for LA, and I have to admit, it is nice. Way overpriced, but the people aren't jerks, and this is a slow time of day. I needed to be somewhere that everyone from Willow to Spike wouldn't ever think to find me, and this restaurant qualifies."

"Its all a lie. Everything I remember about Dawn is a great, big, freaking lie. I know those monks served the good, but I hope they at least have a woodshed in Heaven. They made her a part of my life, a part of all our lives."

"To make matters worse, before she got sick, Mom decided to use Dawn as a kind of leash on me. Don't slay in front of the little dear. Okay, Joyce. And don't you cook, clean, or volunteer in front of her. Yeah. Newsflash. Send Jimmy out with Superman, and eventually, Lex gets ideas. Sometimes I get the idea that maybe she's not as okay with my being a Slayer as she says. Is my Mom secretly like Willow's? God, I hope not. Hmm. Wonder if the little witch told her big witch about Tara? My sources say no."

"Take Tara for example. Her introduction into Willow's life threw us off. Given Willow's upbringing, there almost had to be some surprises in store. It really threw me off at first, sure, though Tara is nice, and doesn't have crazy people calling her a fake. But in Dawn's case, I still feel like we've been invaded. Its not her fault. But she is Chuck Cunningham, in reverse and for real."

"The food is good. Sometimes, you have to pay 300% just to get a full 100%. Dawn is going to be that kind of effort. I mean, our lives have been raped, and she's the result. I am so angry over this righteous manipulation, but Dawn needs me, and I'd like to be there for her. I just don't know if I can love the tornado that rearranged our most personal property. Nothing got broken--but the wind is cold, and I'm afraid-of everything this implies. I didn't have a sister, and now I do."

"In the middle of it all--all being my weepy mental whining--in walks this total Princess. She looks like she was born the way Cordelia wished she would be one day. And she carries it off, like she has Audrey Hepburn's Quickening, or somesuch. Kind of like Dawn, I want to hate her on sight, but I can't. She has the presence. And she's walking towards me. What she has to say ratchets this week into gears I don't even like to think about."  
---------------------------------------------

"Hello. Its been a while, hasn't it? I'd lambaste you for coming in here, but there's no way you could have known I stop here four times a year. Its funny, how right now you don't look so fearsome. But believe it or not, I'm glad to see you, sister. Because I'm approaching a major turning point in my life, and I want your guarantee that you are not about to introduce yourself into our lives once again. The wounds are still fresh. You breezed into town, and for a while, it was like you had always been there. But then Mother had her troubles, all caused by you. You were a whiny brat, but I had to be nice to you. Whenever I tried to say what you were, everyone told me to calm down. All while you plotted our destruction."

* * *

"My nerves told me then and there to reach for a stake. My instincts didn't. Is this woman an aftereffect of the monks' spell? Am I generating unknown families across the globe? To hear her tell it, I'm Dawn in her world. Only with a heapin helpin of the Cornfield Kid from the Twilight Zone. I decided to say the obvious."

* * *

"Look, I have no idea what it is you're talking about. I don't even know you."

"Don't you? If I weren't so very used to your endless lies, I'd happily and cheerfully move on. Mother's private detectives have you in Florida, not California. But if it is you--the older sister who betrayed me—then I have to let it all loose now."

"Okay--okay. Why don't you tell me what it is I've done? Maybe I took a blow to the head---I mean a very recent one."

"You honestly want the whole litany? Because make no mistake, I will let you have it with both barrels."

"But at least then I'd know what the hell you're talking about."

* * *

"This seemed to faze her a little bit. But if she was some sort of spell-byproduct, I guess she had no choice but to tell her story, the way some villains have to tell their master plan. Or should I say their big plan? Ixnay on the M word."

* * *

"Mother hired you as a helper. You lied, and said you had been living on the streets. Mother is not always the easiest of employers, as you found out. Under false pretext, you literally took me for a ride. Mother and her then-current husband called your parents in Florida. Your adoptive parents, it turns out. Imagine Mother's surprise when she learned that you were the baby she gave up at 14, after she'd been raped."

* * *

"Hello. Dawn's history involves a bit of jumping around, sure. But this chick? What, did the monks cast a prototype spell? If so, then they should have left Jacqueline Susann and Harold Robbins out of it."

* * *

"Mother tried to gently inform you that we couldn't be family. That while she bore you no ill will, how you were conceived was too painful for her to be reminded of, which happened every time she saw you. That's when you began the plotting. You convinced her that her husband--possibly the finest man I've ever known, after my own father--had raped you. She stabbed him, and was almost sent away as a result of your perjury. Then you had the nerve to bring your rapist father back to town, to harass her again."

"Wait. If I knew he was a rapist, why'd I even go near him? There's vengeful and then there's just plain stupid."

"You were delusional. You didn't believe the story Mother told of how you were born. You hated her too much for rejecting you, and giving you away when you were born."

"I don't sound terribly stable, then. If your Mom was 14, what else was she supposed to do?"

"If I may continue? You finally did believe--when you found him coming after me. He died soon after. But I can still feel his slimy hands. I will always feel them, and so will Mother."

* * *

"At this point, my head was going everywhere at once. No matter what spell I might be under, am I capable of leaving a kid near a molester? No. I may not know 'My True Self', like that dream said. But I have lines. Maybe to save the world. But not in a snit. Not like this girl's sister."

* * *

"Look--I'm not your sister. I may look like her--but I'm not. And I think, just based on what I'm hearing, that you're lucky for that. She sounds bad nutsy-cuckoo dangerous. Besides, wouldn't she be much older than me?"

"No. Women in our family hold their age very well. But could I ask you a favor? Even if you aren't her--just say two words to me?"

"I'm sorry."

"How did you know those were the words?"

"My guess is, she didn't say them, too terribly often--probably never to you."

* * *

"With that, she left, still looking very much The Princess. Still in all, I thought certain she was part of the spell, until I spoke to Willow and Tara two days later. Slap---does not even begin to describe it."

* * *

"Be with you in a minute, Buff. Tara's just upgrading her Celebrity-Out File."

"Oh? And here I thought Jesse Helms had an ironclad disguise."

"Which will be penetrated, one day. Willow--get the news clippings. I promised the site-owner I'd send them by pic-mail."

"So who's making room in the closet?"

"Her name's Bianca Montgomery. A model--and the daughter of uber-Celeb Erica Kane. The clip I'm sending is of her in 94' with her half-sister, a little nightmare named Kendall Hart."

"Hey, Buff! Does the older sister remind you of anyone?"

* * *

"It was a forced photo-op. There they both were. The Princess I spoke with last week and her way-way familiar sister. Did a net check. Everything Bianca said to me was true--and then some. About the only decent thing Kendall Hart did was stopping the little girl's rape and leaving that town. If I ever thought Cordelia was bad, I need only look at that laundry list. The difference between Nellie and Nancy Olsen. Even Faith....no, let's not go there."

* * *

"BUFFY!! My Tennis Class? We're going to be late! Why do I have to have such an inconsiderate sister?"

"Dawn-you could do a lot worse."

------------------------------------------------

"Buffy? This is Giles. As soon as you get this message, come and see me. There is a vampire in this area with a face that is a near perfect match for your own. Her name is...."

**The Return of Another Unknown Sister**

**LATE FEBRUARY, 2002**

While still mulling over how to properly punish Dawn for wishing them all bound to Casa Summers, Buffy heard a knock on the door. Stake accessible but hidden, she went to answer it. The face was one she had seen before, well over a year ago, under circumstances even she had to deem bizarre.

"Bianca?"

The pretty young woman made a show of crossing the door's threshhold. Buffy looked at Dawn. Dawn shrugged.

"I didn't. End of story."

Bianca Montgomery crossed back and then back in again.

"I heard that in Sunnydale, it was a good idea to show that you can enter uninvited. Particularly at this house."

Buffy showed Bianca to the couch, and then answered the unspoken question of a puzzled Dawn.

"Bianca and I met not long after I fought Drac. She mistook me for someone else."

Bianca smiled at the younger girl.

"My sister, a woman named Kendall Hart. Someone I didn't like."

Dawn asked the next most obvious question.

"So how strong a resemblance are we talking?"

Bianca pulled out a photo. A tall man of regal European bearing stood next to an Audrey Hepburn-ish beauty, a much younger Bianca--and a girl Dawn knew instantly.

"Hokay. That's only massively strong. I thought that this 'everybody has a twin' crap was just that, though."

Buffy said something only Dawn understood.

"I thought at first that maybe Bianca and her situation was a side-effect of what the monks did."

Dawn kept staring at the picture.

"I don't blame you."

Ignoring business not her own, the sometime-model got down to brass tacks.

"Buffy, after the way I messed with your head when I thought you were Kendall, I felt I owed you this bit of news about the latest turn of events."

Silently asking for Dawn to return the picture, Bianca pointed to the Buffy-dopple.

"The woman in this first picture is not my sister. She never was. This is a recent picture of the real Kendall."

Producing another group photo, with older and/or slightly different people, Bianca showed a woman who still looked like herself and uber-celebrity Erica Kane. But Kendall Hart no longer looked very much, if at all, like Buffy Summers.

"Bianca, I don't get this. The 'real' Kendall? Then who was the one that looked liked me?"

Bianca shook her head.

"Buffy, that's the weird part."

"Weird part?"

"Yes, it gets weird! The woman who we have verified to be the real Kendall has all the memories of the events all of us in Pine Valley remember then--but we know that she wasn't there."

Dawn held up her hand, as though to call a pause.

"One, this is hitting a little too close to home for me. Two, didn't you guys verify that the phony was your sister, previously? And Three, Buffy, didn't you fight a vamp named Kendall who looked just like you?"

Buffy answered the last question first.

"That sighting was a false alarm. For some reason, the existence of that false--I guess--Kendall Hart was known to the Watchers' Council. Somebody saw someone who looked vaguely like me in a brown wig, and the name Kendall became involved because of the lamebrain who hatched the little scheme--Harmony. I slapped her around, same as usual, and she went crying to Spike. Same as it ever was."

Bianca answered the other pertinent point.

"Believe me, Dawn, we did act to verify the false Kendall. But let's just say that as Sunnydale is for demonic activity, so Pine Valley is for those who wish to alter documents and test results. I could tell you hideous stories about pregnancies that never were, murder victims that never died, and psychopaths who waltzed back into town and continually lucked into every possible protection, sometimes merely by the brusque force of their own arrogance. Still, her altering of those verifiers is still nothing. Not when you compare it to what else we've found out. That's really why I'm here, Buffy. This is something not out of my world, but yours."

Buffy and Dawn remained silent while Bianca caught her breath.

"When she showed up, this first Kendall Hart was supposed to be in her mid-twenties. She was supposed to have been living in Florida with the Harts. When, after turning our lives inside out, she finally left town, she was supposed to have done so in the company of yet another long-lost sibling of a Pine Valley resident. But when our private detectives ignored the altered records and concentrated solely on the physical movements of the woman matching your description, we found that she had been a murderous spree killer who was an obsessive fan of my mother's. She took over the real Kendall's life, somehow. The real Kendall is no gem. She might even kill, for all I know, given the chance. Yet I believe that my sister, for all her many flaws, would not go as far as this impostor did."

Buffy exchanged a look with Dawn, then asked Bianca a question.

"No offense, and we appreciate the update, but I'm still not catching how this plays in Slayer-ville."

Bianca nodded.

"Buffy, about the only semi-real information we have on this woman is that she was born, not in 1966, but in 1981, here in California. She made her assault on my family starting in 1992."

Dawn's eyes bugged out.

"When she was eleven? She looked twenty-six but she was really eleven? Buffy, that's a Scoobie snack if I ever heard one."

Bianca gulped some water.

"You think you feel bad? She nearly drove me cross-country a few times. She actually married my former stepfather's son. He's a very moral person, and we hope to keep that from him. Of course--we're unlikely to ever see him again, but for him to ever know that he was---that he was---"

Buffy gulped some water.

"That he was in deep with a girl who was—just a girl."

Dawn was still taking this in.

"Well, it had to have been a physical spell on her body, not just an illusion. I mean, I can put on makeup and carry myself a certain way, but the best I could hit would be eighteen or nineteen. Eleven versus twenty-six, though? Most guys tend to pick up on those kinds of clues."

Bianca chuckled.

"Even in Pine Valley---"

She stopped chuckling.

"I was going to say that even in Pine Valley, we don't have that particular problem. Then I remembered how Kendall entered the world. Maybe it isn't a town. Maybe the weirdness and the badness is just all over."

Buffy had to press, despite how upset Bianca now looked.

"Bianca, we have a disturbed magic-user with my face. Can you give us anything else?"

Soon to head back to her own strange life, Bianca Montgomery could only add one more thing.

"The detectives couldn't nail down her real surname. But they were fairly certain that her given name is Jodie."

Dawn felt a chill she could not comprehend. For she had been right. No one merely had a physical twin running around, and mere coincidences were not part of the Slayer's life.

For now, this would have to suffice.


End file.
